ABSTRACT
'Rien n'existe plus que l'homme queje ne vois pas.' The closing scene of L'Espèce humaine condenses its principal concerns and writing strategies with extraordinary and moving economy. It is punctuated by the refrain, 'Ja', as Antelme and his unknown Russian neighbour confirm first their respective nationalities, and then, in the text's ringing final lines, their freedom. The divisive, concentrationary logic of their sometime captors is thus refuted in this affirmation of a common humanity—whose mclusiveness is signalled by its affirmation in the language which, most recently, had been that of its attempted denial.
